The first 3 of the following 5 charts so the demographic characteristics of the buyers of Toy Story during the first two weeks of its release. The last two charts show the sales and rental history of the title over its life, up to the 51st week (week ending December 23, 1996). Some commentary is attached to each chart.

Early Buyer Toy Story households are slightly more likely to have cable television subscriptions than the rest of the VCR universe. But they are much more likely -- almost twice as likely -- to have children at home than the average VCR household. This characteristic is part of the Disney buyer profile. Interestingly, however, Early Buyers of Toy Story also are much more likely to have more personal computers in their homes than the average VCR household. This may be a feature of those households that strongly like this film.

Early Buyer Toy Story households are underrepresented in the second tier markets -- markets 50 to 100 in size -- and slightly overrepresented in both larger and smaller markets. This characteristic of the Early Buyers may be more determined by their income and PC penetration than by the video or its distribution around the country.

Early Buyer Toy Story households are strongly underrepresented in low income categories and strongly overrepresented in upper income categories. These features have something to do with the typical Disney buyer, but they may also be strongly determined by the characteristics of households with computers at home, which tends to be a significantly upper income market.

Toy Story had "pre-orders" long before its video release. These are not sales of units, but in a special characteristic of the video market, they represent advance purchases by very determined households! Shortly after its release, Toy Story sold 4 million units in one week, which may well be the highest one week sales for any title this season.

The Purchase chart above and the Rental chart below are on the same scale. Note that Toy Story has been a strong rental title since its release, topping out at a little over 4 million units in the first full week of its release. Note that its peak rental week is well under Twister -- which topped 5 million units in its peak week.